The present invention, although dealing in the broad sense with a playing piece is particularly directed toward the game of table soccer or foos ball. The foos ball game apparently originated either in Europe or the Orient, the historical development being somewhat clouded, where a plurality of sticks or other shaped pieces were secured to an axially movable rod above a table surface for rotational and axial movement therewith. A ball was placed upon the table surface and opposing players having an equal number of game pieces attempted to hit the ball driving it towards the opponent's goal. Broadly speaking, the game represents field soccer. Over the years, the game, much as have other games, became more and more popular, the elements were improved and refined and the competition became very stiff. As the competition became greater and the human skills improved, it became important to have equipment to enable the player contact with the ball by means of an object secured to a horizontal rod to control the ball. As the game has evolved, the element or piece mounted to the rod became configured such that only the lower portion or foot of the element contacted the ball.
For purposes of esthetics, as well as attempting to improve the popularity of the game, the upper portion of the playing piece has adopted any one of numerous configurations, some of them attempting to resemble or approximate a human player whereas others have become very stylized or modernistic in configuration. While the overall shape of the player is not important to the present application, it is important to recognize that the image presented does, in fact, probably assist in the popularity of the game and that the shape of the ball contacting or foot portion is extremely critical.
As the competition has grown and, in fact, with the introduction of tournaments with the total payout and the several hundred thousand dollars, the particular shape of the foot, i.e. the primary ball control element, has become more and more critical and tends to dictate the way the game is played.
As a result of the requirements for more accurate control, the configuration has gradually changed from a foot which was essentially a solid rectangular block to a foot which was slightly tapered at the bottom to provide greater contact when the playing piece was not in its vertical position and yet retained vertical sides to allow lateral passage on the table for better approaches to the goal. Another development, as will be described hereinafter, included rounding the front and back lower corners of the foot while retaining a flat surface on the bottom and maintaining flat side surfaces to allow lateral passing. Models of the foot which are currently utilized in commercial tables include one which is essentially egg shaped when seen in cross-section, one that is partially scooped or hollowed on the front portion and having an analogous configuration on the backside, resulting in a configuration very similar to a spoon. Again, the sides are maintained flat and vertical for lateral passing.
It is important to remember that the main idea of the game is to control the ball and to move it in to the opponent's goal. In order to do this, one must avoid the opponent's playing pieces which are used in the defensive manner while maintaining the capability of careful and accurate shots directed toward the goal. As is readily apparent, the ball will not always be in the center of the table, i.e. the line that extends between the goals, allowing direct shots. Therefore, the foot of the player must have a surface which allows the players to place a shot which will traverse the table at an angle and either ricochet off the wall or move directly to the goal at the angle. It is further important that when a player does not have control of the ball such that an accurate shot may be made, he must be able to stop the movement of the ball and place the ball in a position for an accurate shot. It is the ability to control the ball, make accurate shots, and further the ability to impede the shots of one opponent that allows one to win in this highly competitive game.
With the above noted problems and prior art in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a game playing piece in particular for use with table soccer, wherein the piece has greatly improved playing characteristics in that it has a configuration and shape providing far greater control for the player.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a game playing piece for tournament soccer wherein the so-called "pin-zone" is of sufficient size without being so large that it inhibits the play by reducing the strike zone.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a game playing piece wherein the particular configuration of the foot gives the player far greater control over the ball on the table.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a game piece having a foot configuration and surface such that the maximum percentage is an effective playing surface.